


He Left the Flower to His Sword

by vlaplomb



Category: Purple Hyacinth - Ephemerys & Sophism (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, F/M, High-key depressing, I'd like to say fluff but it would be a lie, SIMP!Kieran, You Have Been Warned, best read while listening to "Another One Bites the Dust", coward!Kieran, no u, sauce on the side, shoot me Lauren, shooty shoot, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:01:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25438093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vlaplomb/pseuds/vlaplomb
Summary: "Who is the woman next to you?"Kieran gulped, turning the picture over in his hands.  "My...friend.""Your partner in crime?"Groping at the stale silence, Kieran choked out a response in the affirmative."Kill her."
Relationships: Lauren Sinclair & Kieran White, Lauren Sinclair/Kieran White
Comments: 10
Kudos: 74





	He Left the Flower to His Sword

**Author's Note:**

> Idk what's going on in WiU so please accept this humble offering instead.
> 
> Also major apologies to anyone who suffered permanent brain damage after reading my cursed crack fics.
> 
> Oh, and don't read this while listening to "Another One Bites the Dust". It kills the vibe, but it will make sense.

_Plink._ A steady drip of water leaked through the decrepit ceiling, sounding on the floor like the clinking of neglected piano keys.

Why did it always rain when he came here?

Pins and needles plagued Kieran's back as he walked beneath the chandelier. He looked up, squinting as the light from the stained glass pierced his vision.

He hadn't returned to the deserted cathedral since that day. Though he and Lauren were back on tentatively good terms, and Lune was operating once again, he still met the sight with an apprehensive glare. The last thing he wanted was any sort of reminder of that week.

However, if Lauren was finally willing to meet in the cave again after all that had transpired there, Kieran figured he could overcome his own uncomfortable memories too.

He approached the confession room, sighing. "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned."

"Long time no see, Hyacinth," came a biting voice. Kieran settled his fiery ocean gaze on the messenger's mask, barely visible in the dim natural lighting of the church. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"I was a bit surprised they would call me here for new orders when I haven't yet completed my most recent task," Kieran said, combing stray hair from his forehead.

"Well, I wouldn't consider these to be new orders." The messenger shuffled some papers. "It's about Lune."

"Oh?" Kieran asked. A hint of a chill tugged at his spine, threatening to travel up his neck. _Act indifferent._ "With all due respect, I have that situation under control."

"Believe me, we're more than certain that you know _exactly_ what you're doing."

Kieran raised an eyebrow at the messenger's punching tone. "Then why have I been summoned?"

"We found Lune."

Kieran's heart halted with a shudder. The messenger passed him a photograph, which he took lightly. _Please be wrong._ He continued to stare blankly at the messenger, avoiding the incriminating terror that was inevitably etched in the film. _Please._

"Go on," the messenger said. Kieran lowered his eyes.

_Lauren._

Well, it was both him and Lauren, cloaked in black and crouched behind a wall at the Carmine Camellia. Their backs were to the photographer, but he could just make out her flaming locks - and the glinting turquoise of Kieran's eyes as he watched her whisper to him.

He wasn't the only assassin in the Phantom Scythe with bright blue eyes, but he was alone in the regret which they held.

Sucking in a breath, he turned to the messenger. "Who took this?"

"Unimportant. Who is the woman next to you?"

Kieran gulped, turning the picture over in his hands. "My...friend."

"Your partner in crime?"

Groping at the stale silence, Kieran choked out a response in the affirmative.

"Kill her."

His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. Lead settled into his feet, rendering him incapable of leaving. He could do nothing but stand and gawk.

"Perhaps the leader's instructions are unclear. You've committed treason against the Phantom Scythe - you're lucky you aren't being killed yourself."

"I thank the leader for the kind gesture," Kieran said, drawling with a dry laugh from the back of his throat.

The messenger handed him an envelope. "This contains your formal orders. Burn it after reading - as always. I believe the leader has decided that we still need your skills."

Kieran clutched the photograph in an iron grasp, not daring to open the envelope. The messenger glanced at the assassin's shaking hands.

"Keep it."

"What?"

"We don't need it - and I'm going to venture to guess that's the only photograph you'll ever take with her."

Shutting his eyes momentarily, Kieran dropped the envelope and the photo into his pocket. Without a word, he stalked towards the exit, footsteps treading lightly on what now felt like foreign ground. The door of the church opened with a creak, and he was out on the street again. Tendrils of rain streaked down his face. He looked up toward the sky, welcoming it. Within minutes of occupying the sidewalk, vacant save for the howling rain, his clothes were soaked through to his collarbone.

Why wouldn't they just torture him? It wasn't like they had avoided hurting him in the past. He could still kill for them, even with a few more scars.

But he knew. He knew they could see the glimmer of hope tainting his eyes of regrets in the picture as he looked at her. He knew this was far worse than any physical torture the leader could ever conjure up for him to endure. 

And he knew what he had to do.

*****the next evening*****

Footsteps echoed in the threshold of the cave. Lauren glanced up from Lune's latest note to the police department without so much as ceasing her feverish clicking against the typewriter. Narrowing her eyes, she searched for a sign of his arrival - a flirty joke, a flash of his signature cream dress shirt…

The entrance to the cave was shadowed, empty as far as she could tell.

"Kieran?" she called, still not standing. She rested her gloves hands against the edge of his desk, which had quickly become hers over the past few months. The metal door clanged shut without a word from its occupant.

_Hide._

She darted behind the corkboard, heart racing. The absence of his usual "Where are you, darling?" or "Honey, I'm home!" disturbed her. Freeing her hands of her gloves, she reached a hand to her belt, withdrawing her pistol with a click.

The footsteps came to rest somewhere in the center of the cave. Lauren crept out from behind her perch, catching a dark-clad figure in her peripheral. "Freeze!" she yelled, stepping out and aiming her shaking pistol at the intruder.

He turned a sad smile on her. "Kieran?" She moved to replace her gun in its resting spot. "Why didn't you say anything?" 

"You might not want to put that away just yet, darling," he said, eyeing her firearm.

"Are you being followed? We're in trouble, aren't we? Why are you wearing the trench coat you use for missions - do we need to perform an emergency infiltration?"

"Lauren, Lauren, endless questions." He chuckled. She froze, a hand still twitching on her gun. "I've been sent to kill you."

Black crept into the edges of her spinning vision. She propped her right arm up against the corkboard, steadying herself. _Of course he was._ "Oh, I see," she said, laughing haughtily. "Well, orders are orders. Maybe I should have just stayed where I was hiding, hm? Then you wouldn't have had to worry about me fighting back. You could have just slit my throat, and I'd never be the wiser!" Her voice cracked, but she held her gaze.

"Lauren, listen to-"

"Well, no need for you to worry!" She grinned, eyes crinkling at the corners with sardonic mirth. "I won't fight you. Here, just do it. Do it now." She turned so her back faced him, heart thumping. Her face went numb, freezing her eerie smile in place. "Go on. Kill me, Purple Hyacinth. I hope you remembered to bring a flower." 

She squeezed her eyes shut, fully aware that she was dancing with death. It wouldn't be the first time anyway.

But it would be the last.

_Don't turn around_ , she told herself as she felt him creep up to her. She clenched her jaw in a feeble attempt to fend off the stubborn wave of betrayal that struck her. Her eyes opened of their own volition, fixing on the cave wall. _Of course he would do it. He never disobeys orders._

_And without shedding a single tear-_

Something brushed against her cheekbone. Lauren flinched, snapping her eyes shut again.

He took her by the shoulders and spun her around. Lauren averted her eyes, not wanting to see his tearless ones once again as he…

"Shoot me," he whispered.

Lauren's hand flew up to her face. Her finger caught on a bloom of a purple hyacinth, tucked lovingly behind her ear with a taunting reminder - and an apology.

"I know you want to. Putting a bullet right through the Purple Hyacinth's heart? Or his head, if that's what you prefer. I know how you are, Darling." He did. Taking her hand and placing it on her gun, he chuckled ruefully. "You could even be promoted. You could live your life again."

"You have your orders," Lauren said, pulling her gun from her hip.

"A dead man can't fulfill his orders." He winked. "And I may have forgotten my sword - how stupid of me."

Lauren's heart flipped as she raised her gun, arm plagued with a tremor. The barrel of her gun caressed his dress shirt. She watched as his eyelids fluttered shut, a grimace playing with the fake smile plastered across his face. "I've wanted to do this for a long time, Kieran."

Balancing on her toes, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. He tensed. Smiling into his shirt, she buried her face in his shoulder.

A tear slipped down her face as his arms slowly came to embrace her. His hand threaded through her hair. She held him tighter.

She would not let the Scythe torture him for letting her go.

"It's a rare moment that I don't completely despise you," she whispered, nudging Kieran's hand off her back and gently handing her gun to him. He wouldn't take it. Without pulling away, she wrapped his hand around it, taking his finger and placing it on the trigger. He sighed as she tucked the weapon between them. "So take the opportunity. It's loaded. The safety is off." She let her hand return to Kieran's neck. "All you have to do is pull the trigger. So shoot me now."

It was unclear which of them was shaking. She dug her fingers into his back, squeezing her eyes shut and bracing herself. "Please make it quick." His free arm tightened around her.

_Bang._

Lauren released a sigh, still hearing the shot blistering in her ear. Her whole body felt numb. Soon she would feel the pain. The sensation of her body swaying forward washed over her.

But no physical pain came.

Kieran's hand fell from her body. The gun clattered to the cold ground, echoing through the cave.

"Kieran!" Lauren expelled a nearly inhuman scream, unable to hold him up. She lowered him to the ground as gently as she could, falling to her knees in the process. "Kieran, you idiot! You absolute idiot! You were supposed to…" she trailed off, voice shaking as she took the gun, still warm from his hand.

_He disobeyed the Leader's direct orders - for-_

She unbuttoned his shirt, tearing off her jacket to staunch the blood blooming over his heart. Her hyacinth fell from her hair from her sudden movement, settling into the growing puddle of blood on his front. A battle raged in her mind, trying to determine whether to stay by his side or find the medical kit. Stealing another glance at him, she raised her fingers to his neck, resting them just below his jaw, waiting.

No pulse. 

"Kier-" Lauren started, choking on her words. "Kieran, you can't die." She continued to press on his wound. "That's impossible..."

She glanced at his face, his cold, lifeless, _peaceful_ face. "So you weren't so invincible after all," she whispered, tracing a finger along his jaw. Her vision blurred. "Why would you do this?"

No answer came.

She let a tear fall for him. 

"You should have talked to me." She took his lifeless hand. "No, I should have asked you - how could I have been so blind? I- I let you die." Her forehead landed on his still chest as she gripped his hand tightly in hers, the faint memory of him still hugging her close. "I couldn't save you…"

_Or Dylan. Or my parents._

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

**Author's Note:**

> I have been informed that the paragraph leading up to the gunshot reads very interestingly when taken out of context (thanks Liv, your assistance is always very welcome! jdksjfkskd but really thank you for beta reading for me :') ). So if you need a laugh after reading that train wreck... I do recommend.
> 
> Well rip. This is the first 100% serious fic I've ever written and...yikes. Mildly alarmed that my brain just thought of this randomly, but I executed (hhhhha) it poorly and therefore am not too concerned.


End file.
